Meditation traditions speak about the breath so much,
Not because it has any kind of magical property.
It's not that if we sit cross-legged on the floor for hours on end watching our breath,
Something magical will happen.
No,
There's really practical reasons why the breath is so important.
First of all,
If we stop doing it,
We die.
Pretty obvious.
Breathing is the one activity that we have done the most in our lives and so it has special significance on that front.
Secondly,
The breath is quite unique in that it's something that we can do either unconsciously or consciously.
If we stop thinking about our breathing,
It's going to continue regardless.
The subconscious mind will take care of that in the same way that it takes care of the heart beating.
But we can't take control of our heart beating,
We can take control of our breath.
So it's quite unique in that sense.
Thirdly,
Using the breath we can actually control our feelings.
When we're feeling anxious or worried or fearful,
There tends to be something of that fight-or-flight response coming up out of the reptile brain,
Out of those lower brain centers.
And when this happens,
We tend to breathe shallowly.
If we hack the process,
We can get inside and break the chain,
Take a nice deep breath.
And what we're doing is we're telling the reptile inside us,
It's okay,
There's no predators around,
Nothing's going to eat you.
Now,
Most of us are dealing with at least some amount of fear right now and that's perfectly understandable.
But we don't need to experience fear in order to do the things that we have to do at a time like this.
We can use simple discernment,
Reasoning,
Wisdom,
And we're likely to act in more appropriate ways when these are our motivations.
Compassion is a wonderful motivation as well if you're living with people that you need to take care of.
And then the motivation of compassion is a much more effective motivator than fear or worry.
And so another wonderful quality about the breath is that it's always happening right now.
And what's happening right now is almost always easier to deal with and more pleasant than what might be going on in the mind regarding past or future.
Once we have done everything that we need to do in order to take care of ourselves in this time of crisis,
Then we've done everything we need to do.
And actually there's a lot that can be enjoyed about the present experience for all of us.
Increased family time,
Increased time to rest,
Time to catch up on things that you've wanted to do for some time that you've been unable to do due to work commitments or whatever.
The way in which I see people coming together to help each other online is incredible.
And we can all profit from this in terms of our emotional state,
Helping people just to be able to do what they want to do.
And so we can all do that.
And so we can all do that in our emotional state.
Helping people just feels good.
So whatever your area of expertise is or in whatever way you can help,
You can go and do that and you can do it right now.
And that's something that feels really good.
That will be a powerful antidote to the kinds of fears and anxieties that we all might be experiencing.
And so there's a simple practice of putting ourselves into the present moment where,
As I say,
There is almost certain to be less of that negative emotion or less of those negative thought patterns occurring.
And this simple practice is that we enjoy the sensations of the breath,
Breathing nice and deep so as to tell that reptile brain,
There's no danger here.
There's no need to fight or flight response.
There are no dinosaurs around.
And then when we catch the mind wandering,
Which it will,
This is successful mindfulness practice.
This is where the juice is.
This is the good stuff.
It's in seeing the mind,
Doing what it does,
That are successful practices to be found.
We've been training the mind to think for decades,
Most of us.
And just because we decide one day to sit down and pay attention to our breathing doesn't mean that the mind is going to stop in its tracks.
Trying to stop the mind,
As I shared with someone on the internet today when they asked the question,
Trying to stop the mind thinking is like a dog chasing its tail.
Any amount of trying is only going to perpetuate thinking.
And that's why we speak about mindfulness as a practice.
It's a practice.
There are skills to be developed in the mind.
Now,
One of the beneficial side effects of this as we continue to practice may be that the mind becomes quieter,
But it doesn't become quieter through our trying.
What we're doing here is we're cultivating skills,
We're training the mind,
And we're training it to think what we choose.
One of my favorite quotes is that the thinking mind is a wonderful servant but a lousy master.
And I think we can all see evidence of this in our lives.
When we've been able to pause before we act,
We have probably always acted in a more beneficial way than when we react emotionally.
So,
In the present moment,
Being that the breath is always in the present moment,
We enjoy the pleasant sensations of the breath,
And when we catch the mind wandering,
We congratulate ourselves for successful practice.
And we can make a game of this by saying,
Aha!
I caught you.
I caught you,
Mr.
Anxiety.
I caught you,
Mr.
Fear.
I caught you,
Mr.
Worry.
Out,
Out,
Out!
And you shoo these things out of the mind as if a dog with muddy paws had just come onto your carpet in the living room.
We love the dog,
But we don't want it on our carpets when it has muddy paws.
And so we shoo it away lovingly.
This becomes a pleasant practice.
This becomes an enjoyable practice.
When we enjoy something,
We want to do it.
When we want to do something,
We do it a lot.
And when we do this a lot,
We develop skills.
What are those skills?
The skills of choosing what we think,
Choosing what we feel,
And this is going to be of enormous benefit in a time like this.
If any of you feel inspired to try this practice,
Please do let me know how you get on.
I am available for informal chats about this practice,
And I'd really love to hear from any and all of you.
